Why My Writings are So Closely Tied to Scripture
A one-time reader of one of my articles will likely be affirmed in his recent criticism that I am mostly a “cut and paste” writer of theology. I am ready to admit along with Martin Luther that my ministry is merely reading, praying, preaching, and writing the Word of God. It is not plagiarism because my writings insist that all glory, honor, credit be ascribed to Jesus Christ, our Lord (1 Cor 1:31). He is the Word of God enfleshed (Jn 1:14), as revealed in the written Word of God brought to us by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:20–21).
In my understanding, the Bible is the revealed Gospel of God to be preached to all people, even all creation (Mt 24:14; Mk 16:15). The centerpiece of this revelation, the Bible, is Jesus Christ, who is Himself the Gospel of God’s grace to ungodly sinners. Jesus came to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21). My task in writing is for my readers to “see Jesus.” Jesus must be lifted up so that people can see and understand so great a salvation, from the only God and Savior, Jesus (Titus 1:3; 2:13; 3:6).
If I were to venture off away from the Bible, then I would be merely speculating in the realm of opinion and philosophy. My burden resides in listening to Christians who are biblically illiterate or theologically in error. They often serve as my inspiration to write my next article. For this reason, my articles are laden with verse references to support my interpretation on a particular subject. If I am making a proposition, then I want it to be supported with as many text passages as reasonable to make the claim.
The interconnection of various biblical themes means that my writings can often have a redundancy about them. One reader noted to me that Ephesians 1:4–5 was referenced in almost all of my articles. He was right, and the reason is that the doctrine of sovereign election is the basis for sound doctrine that flows from it. If one has a distorted view of election and reprobation, then the rest will be tainted with distortion. Poison the spring and the river will be polluted.
For one who writes to explain biblical doctrine, writer’s block is rare. The source does not change, nor does the content. The benefit to my readers is seeing how Bible passages correlate to one another. The desired result is a stronger faith, derived from a growing knowledge of the truth, resulting in a clearer picture of God and one’s relationship to Him. Knowing Christ is knowing God and is equated with our salvation.
Over time, I reasoned from the Scriptures that there was nothing more important than accurately knowing the Bible, so I could know the One True God revealed therein. I also reasoned that there was nothing better for me to contribute to others. To love others, the Bible taught me that I must tell people the truth, as it is in Jesus (Eph 4:15, 21).
The more I learned from my study of the Bible, with the help of faithful theologians, the more I realized how much bad theology I had absorbed throughout my life. I confess that I was frustrated to the point of anger, but I also realized that my sufferings to know the truth would fire my zeal and compassion for others desirous of more light.
Thus, my ministry received by others is very small. There are endless ways I could change that reality, in order to promote myself or my ministry, but my passion each day is to awake and to search the Scriptures, in order to address a topic that has entered my purview. Can I explain John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 John 2:2 one more time, in a better way so that my readers will avoid misinterpretation? Can I be clearer? Have I myself come across a new and better way to illustrate a text or theme? In my continued learning, has someone else shown me another application of the text? Then, a new article will be authored.
Remaining close to the biblical text and refusing to sensationalize with speculations as many do with their writings on end things, I find that I am often explaining the process of salvation with repetition. Not many today are clamoring for preachers to tell them the old, old story, but that is what my readers get from me. Jesus and His love…for God’s chosen people is central, but there is more.
I also confess that I read and maybe even heard that good Christian writing does not just string Bible verses together. I actually believe that sentiment. My goal, however, is not to be a good Christian writer. My objective is to present the Gospel of grace, from the Bible, with an ever-greater efficiency and clarity. I want my readers to know the truth that was kept from me for far too long in my both Roman Catholic and Liberal Protestant upbringing.
God was faithful to direct my steps to men of God at different seasons and I am not done learning. I reflect and wish some man of God in my past would have confronted me with the claims of the Bible and clear explanations of what the revelation of God is supposed to be to me and others. No doubt some tried to impart more light and more truth to me, but the student was not ready (me) and those men were not adequately equipped.
This, I write to you, my dear reader as the man who is zealous to preach and write the Word so that no one could ever say to me, “Why didn’t you tell me how important the Gospel is? and Why with your knowledge did you not attempt to clearly explain the Scriptures to me?”
There are innumerable things I could do to occupy my days, but I believe wholeheartedly that God has called me, equipped me, inspired me to write short articles for you to read. They are not clever, creative, or scholarly, but they are fitted closely to the Bible so that you may read and hopefully understand God’s salvation of His beloved.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
June 8, 2022
